Symphonicities #2 plus an Update

Well, Romans, countrymen (and women), we are done. The record is put to bed. After a week and a half of 21 hour days and over 6 months of prepping, arranging, rehearsing and tweaking, Sting’s Symphonicities is sent off to the production plant and everything is put to bed. I listen in my car over and over to check it and predictably in the post partum stage there is a degree of relief, depression that it’s over and disappointment in one’s self.

What a difficult task!!!!: To take the work of one of the most gifted Pop music songwriters of the past 30 years and write Orchestral arrangements around the songs that aren’t too lush, too comfortable, too pat. Orchestral music is written out. It is a set of particular notes and dynamics and decisions. It is not like a crazy insane band playing their hearts out live. It is more traditionally together and refined than that and, because of that, easily open to criticism from die hard Rock critics and fans of The Police and the early more off the cuff records.

The good news is that I think we more than pulled it off and the record is full of little surprises. “Next To You”, the first song off the first Police record, is done as a kind of manic hoedown with the microphones closer to the instruments even then they were on the Eleanor Rigby recording; with the players playing to the point of bows breaking. Sting has been performing that live every night. He has performed it on The Tonight Show and on the Today show and it always comes across as strong and fierce. On the record though it is even more of a shredder, absolutely in your face with the same spirit (albeit with a String section) of that hallowed early record.

“We Work The Black Seam”:, Sting’s excoriating song about the Coal Miners strike that happened under Margaret Thatcher’s watch is now done with Primitive percussion and a 12 Piece Brass Ensemble. There are discoveries that even Sting fans are unaware of, a gorgeous song called “End Of The Game” from the Brand New Day era and, my favorite, an exquisite ballad from the Mercury Falling era called “Pirate’s Bride”. That is such a beautiful song.

I believe critics that pre-judge the record will find enough things to give them ammunition. “Roxanne” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” are both done in a lusher and more romantic fashion, though “Roxanne” is surprisingly haunting and gets its groove from the performance Sting gave in Italy on 9/11. I am comforted that my 15 year old Daughter who is none too impressed with her father and, in addition, knows nothing about The Police adores both arrangements and can’t stop singing them, especially “Magic”. That is a good harbinger.

Regarding the critics, I hope some listen all the way through to hear the blistering “She’s Too Good For Me” which I have described as Stravinsky writing a Roadhouse blues, to hear “Pirate’s” and “Black Seam”, the moody and brooding “Burn For You”, a Sting composition from his early 20′s. There is enough beautiful stuff in there to raise the eyebrows of even ferocious naysayers. In the end you just have to do the best you can and let the work speak for itself.

I arranged most of the record but there are a few non-Mathes standouts. Dave Hartley’s beautiful “I Hung Me Head” and Steven Mercurio’s absolutely stunning arrangement of “You Will Be My Ain True Love”, a song Sting wrote for Allison Krauss and the Cold Mountain soundtrack, could be my two favorite cuts. I hope you check it out. There are some strong bonus cuts including a take of mine on “Why Should I Cry For You” which will only be available on itunes. That features a Cello Solo by Anthony Pleeth. Anthony’s father was one of the greatest of all Cello teachers in England. A legend of sorts, the incomparable Jacqueline DuPre called William Pleeth her “Cello Daddy”. His son Tony is a bit of a best kept secret on the London scene and one of the finest Cellists on the planet. I give Tony the melody of “Island Of Souls”, one of the album Soul Cages’s finest and most central moments as a prelude into “Why Should I Cry”. It is a very strong moment I think. That song also features David Cossin, the great Percussionist from Bang On A Can All-Stars playing a cardboard tube which sounds so cool……Joe Bonadio also does amazing Percussion work, especially on “Black Seam” and “She’s Too Good”

We recorded a lot of the record, including “Why Should I Cry”, with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The particular recording I describe above, an earlier one I did in February with Tony and Isobel Griffith’s London Players, had such a spirit though that it was the one we used. The RPCO were magnificent though and sound so good on the road with Sting as well as the record.

I went right from Sting into musically directing the Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame. It was a show that featured Phil Collins, Earth, Wind And Fire, Leonard Cohen, Taylor Swift, k.d. Lang, Judy Collins, Jackie DeShannon, Kim Carnes, David Foster with Peter Cetera and this insanely gifted singer Charice from the Phillipines. As with all these kind of shows, it was a mixed affair, though all the performances were strong to a certain extent. Always there are one or two performances that fall a bit flat (I will protect the innocent and not reveal any of those) and yet. at the same time, a few absolute stunners. For me, the peak was Judy Collins singing “Suzanne” by Leonard Cohen which went right into k.d. Lang singing Cohen’s legendary “Hallelujah”. Judy was just ridiculous. A voice like a bird from heaven.

I accompanied k.d. for much of it just on Piano alone, then joined by Shane Fontayne on Guitar, Shawn Pelton on Drums, and Zev Katz on Bass. That was just extraordinary. k.d. is very private and protective of herself (wisely). She does not reveal herself readily BUT….she is a certifiable genius!!! What an honor to play for her. I had the same experience the last time I did it, when she sang “What A Wonderful World” for Tony Bennett at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006.

I now go into producing a record for the star of Glee: Matthew Morrison. He opened three Broadway shows back to back: Hairspray, South Pacific and, perhaps most notably, Light In The Piazza, written by the theater’s greatest modern composer Adam Guettel (Richard Rodger’s grandson). That score is just beyond belief. The moment at the end where the reprise of the arching “Light In The Piazza” melody comes back is to me one of the great moments in theatre since Sweeney Todd in the late 1970s.

All that said, I was worried he had a big belty voice. I have done decent work for voices like that but it is not my first choice artistically when producing. Fortunately for me, Matthew is NOT one of those singers. A real child of singer songwriter Pop and Rock music, he loves off the beaten path stuff and has really impressed me singing things like the Amos Lee song “Arms Of A Woman”.

I have hired Claudius Mittendorfer to engineer the record. He recorded the last MUSE record and the last record by Interpol. We also did “Pretty.Odd.” by Panic At The Disco together. With Claudius the record will be crisp and edgy in all the right ways. Because I have him I can use some of my regular cast of characters and still be assured that the results are as crafty as usual but a bit more in your face and joyous, buoyant and blistering at the same time if that’s possible. The world needs immediate and affecting records, not overly sophisticated adult pablum which I can veer towards if not watched. Sometimes a record can actually be too musical. I know that sounds strange but think about Rubber Soul and Exile On Main Street. Both are beautifully rendered but also rough in some sense. You can’t create that kind of vibe with studio musicians in a vacuum but you can use it as a signpost of where to go.

That’s it. Bettye LaVette’s record is still getting raves. Her first week record sales were the best of her career. I’ll be on “Good Morning America” with her on the morning of July 6th. Tune in if you can. Sting will be on The Early Show doing a few of my arrangements conducted by Steven Mercurio, who was always booked to do the tour, on July 16th.

The Young Veins record is getting good notices and I talked to the L.A. Times about them recently. I produced the songs “Change”, “Take A Vacation”, “Capetown” and “The Other Girl”, 4 of the strongest cuts on there I humbly admit. Ryan Ross and Jon Walker, who lead that band, and Spencer Smith and Brendon Urie from Panic At The Disco have taught me some of these lessons about immediacy. In the end it is not about the musical information, it is about the intensity of expression and honesty of the performer. That is everything.

All good things to you and see you on the next blog. It’s been a while.

Rob